City's procession towards the three points was initially held up by Clarets keeper Joe Hart, making his first return to Etihad Stadium after ending his 12-year stay in the summer.

Hart, a huge crowd favourite during his spell at the club, made superb first-half stops to deny Sergio Aguero and David Silva, but was powerless to stop Aguero firing home as the duo combined to round off a neat passing move.

Hart's afternoon was soon to get a lot worse. Burnley barely threatened before half-time but their hopes were only truly extinguished when City added two more goals in two minutes shortly before the hour mark.

There was some controversy about City's second goal, which came after Leroy Sane went down in the area under a challenge by Jack Cork.

Referee Jon Moss waved play on but the Burnley defence stopped, allowing Silva to retrieve the ball before it ran out of play, and cross for Bernardo Silva to sweep his shot home.

Burnley's manager Sean Dyche and his players continued to protest as the game resumed, although it was unclear whether they felt the game had been stopped, or that the ball had gone behind before David Silva reached it.

It clearly played on the Clarets' minds, however, and their usual defensive organisation was nowhere to be seen when, seconds later, a corner was cleared as far as Fernandinho on the edge of the area and he found a sublime finish.

From that point, the game was over as a contest, although the City fans still had more reasons to celebrate, firstly when a fit-again Kevin de Bruyne appeared off the bench for his first appearance since the opening weekend of the season.

There were more goals to come too as Fernandinho teed up Riyad Mahrez to curl home a superb fourth goal late on, and Sane converted a Benjamin Mendy cross.